Skyrim Co-Op Main Quest
by TheMattMan999
Summary: ***SKYRIM SPOILERS*** The main quest of Skyrim, told through the eyes of Tanim the Nord. Tanim and his four traveling companions go on a life-changing, world-saving, fame-gaining journey after Tanim realizes he is the almighty savior of Tamriel. Rated T for mild language, gore, and alcohol.


Chapter 1

I awake with the taste of blood in my mouth. What was the last thing that I remember? Cywien was... wait, who's Cywien? After I think for a bit, I remember that I was hit in the head with a club. That would explain all of the bandages. Then I try to remember my traveling companions' names and faces. There was Cywien the Wood Elf (Bosmer for short), he was a flawless archer, he had very little hair, he was very short compared to an average man, he had brown eyes, a small nose, and what little hair he had was a dirty blonde color.

The rest of the clan was comprised of Voniel the Dark Elf (Dunmer for short), Koerith the Argonian, and Conroy the Redguard. I remember Cywien more than them because we were childhood friends. The main features of those guys that I remember are Voniel's defined face, Koerith's uneven green scales, and Conroy's "perfect" brown hair. I still think I'm better looking than him. It just then occurs to me that I forgot my name. That club must've done a number on me. Let's see, Esmour? No, that was the Blacksmith back in Helgen. Was it Reynard? No, that was that guy that traveled with us until he was killed during a fight with a pack of trolls. Poor guy, got his lungs ripped out before Cywien put an arrow in the troll's skull. I remember now! It's Tanim! I felt so good about myself that I remembered that. I'm also thankful that I remember that.

I finally take in my surroundings. My hands are bound and I'm sitting in a carriage being driven by a man in a brown garb with a small stupid looking helmet. I identify him as an Imperial, the main law enforcement of Skyrim besides city and hold guards. I look around. There are three men in the carriage not counting me. One of them is a blonde, middle aged man with blue, sorrowful eyes. The second man is also depressed, he has more dark skin then the first man, and he has a dark brown hair with hazel eyes. The last man is bulkier than the others, he too has blonde hair and blue eyes, but he is more beaten up and, unlike the others and me, he is gagged.

The first man notices me. "Hey, you, you're finally awake." He says. I nod.

"You were trying to cross the border right?"

"Yeah."

"Walked right into that Imperial ambush. Same as us, and that thief over there."

I realize he is referring to the dark skinned man to his left. The thief starts whining. I immediately know that he would die very quickly in a fight.

"Damn you Stormcloaks, Skyrim was fine until you came along; Empire was nice and lazy. If they hadn't been looking for you, I'd have stolen that horse and been halfway to Hammerfell." The thief said. He then turns to me. "You there, you and me, we shouldn't be here; it's these Stormcloaks the Empire wants."

"We're all brothers and sisters in binds now, thief." the Stormcloak man counters.

"Shut up back there!" the Imperial driving the cart says. The horse thief notices the bulky man mumbling, unrecognizable since he is gagged.

"What's wrong with him, huh?" The thief says.

The Stormcloak gets defensive. "Watch your tongue! You're speaking to Ulfric Stormcloak, the true high king!" He says.

"Ulfric? The Jarl of Windhelm? You're the leader of the rebellion!" The thief realizes. "But if they've captured you... oh gods, where are they taking us?"

The Stormcloak man looks to the horizon. "I don't know where we're going, but Sovngarde awaits."

Sovngarde, the Nord heaven. The Stormcloak man believes we are going to get executed. I look off into the distance, seeing a town. I recognize the town as Helgen immediately. Helgen has a huge Imperial influence, and given the fact that I'm in the same carriage as the leader of the rebellion, I can come to the conclusion that I won't fair too well. I always keep a steel dagger in my boot for emergencies, but they stripped me of everything I had and now I'm in some foot wraps and some ragged robes. I realize It'll take too long and someone will see me if I try to bite off my bindings so that's out of the question. Nothing to do but wait.

A few minutes later, the carriages are arriving in Helgen. The horse thief starts up again.

"This can't be happening, this isn't happening!" he says.

"Hey, what village are you from, horse thief?" the Stormcloak says.

"Why do you care?" says the thief, almost crying.

"A Nord's last thoughts should be of home." the Stormcloak replies, easing the pain.

"R-Rorikstead... I'm, I'm from Rorikstead." the thief says, clearly feeling a little better.

A random Imperial calls out: "General Tullius, sir, the headsman is waiting." He earns a reply from Tullius who is on horseback stating, "Good, let's get this over with." The horse thief, although still calm, calls out to any god he can think of, asking for their help. Our carriage rides slowly past Tullius speaking with some High Elves (Altmer for short) I recognize as the Thalmor. This starts up the Stormcloak man. "Look at him, General Tullius the military governor! And It looks like the Thalmor are with him! Damn elves; I bet they had something to do with this." he says.

We ride a little further into the town. The Stormcloak man realizes where we are. "Hey, this is Helgen. I used to be sweet on a girl from here. And I wonder if Vilod is still making that mead with juniper berries mixed in..." the Stormcloak man says. "...Funny, when I was a boy, these Imperial walls and towers used to make me feel so safe." he continues. The presence of death was finally getting to him. A child sitting on his porch is forced to go inside by his father. This makes me feel sweaty and uncomfortable.

Momentarily, we apparently arrive at our destination because a female Imperial captain orders the soldiers to get us out of the carriage. "Let's go, shouldn't keep the gods waiting for us." says the Stormcloak man. Everyone stands up and starts jumping out of the cart. The horse thief goes into a panic again.

"No, wait! We're not rebels!" the thief says.

"Face your death with some courage, thief." the Stormcloak says.

"You've got to tell them! We weren't with you! This is a mistake!" the thief says.

"Step towards the block when we call your name, one at a time!" the Imperial captain shouts out.

"Empire loves their damn lists." the Stormcloak man mutters.

An Imperial soldier is starting to call names as me and the Stormcloak man touch the ground. "Ulfric Stormcloak, Jarl of Windhelm." Ulfric walks away. The Stormcloak calls out that it has been an honor. I guess it had. "Ralof of Riverwood." the soldier calls out, marking something on his list. The Stormcloak man walks away, bowing his head in silence. "Lokir of Rorikstead." the soldier says. The thief has clearly lost his sanity because he jumps up and shouts "No! I'm not a rebel! you can't do this!" Then he starts sprinting as fast as he can towards the closest exit. The Imperial captain orders him to stop, but he replies with "You're not gonna kill me!" The Imperial captain shouts "ARCHERS!" and then two soldiers pull out their bows. The first one misses Lokir but the second one nails him in the back of the neck.

"Anyone else feel like running?" the Imperial captain taunts. The archer is clearly proud of himself too. The soldier that was calling out names notices me. "Wait, you there, step forward." He says. And I do. "Who are you?" He asks."My name is Tanim." I tell him. "You picked a bad time to come home to Skyrim, kinsman." the soldier comments. "Captain, what should we do? He's not on the list." the soldier asks. "Forget the list, he goes to the block." the captain says cruelly. "I'm sorry. At least you can die here, in your homeland." the soldier says.

I start walking over to the block. I stand in between Ralof and a Redguard with fine brown hair, extremely tan skin, and emerald green eyes. His hands are bound too. He notices me a few seconds later. "Tanim!" he exclaims. I realize this is Conroy. "Hey, Conroy." I say. His voice is raspy. He hasn't cleared his throat in awhile or he was choked by a soldier. Probably the latter. "Were you on the list either?" I ask. "No. They mistook me for a sell-sword or a sailor." he replies. "I've noticed Koerith and Cywien following the carriages." he adds. A flicker of hope sparks in me.

"Are they armed?" I ask.

"To the teeth." he replies.

"Voniel is probably invisible, I assume." I say

"Good guess." He says.

"When was the last time you saw them?" I ask.

"Right before coming into Helgen." He replies.

Just then, I see a green, scaly tail just before it goes behind a house. I smile. I then turn to Tullius, who was watching me but quickly turns his focus to Ulfric. "Ulfric Stormcloak," he says. "some here in Helgen call you a hero, but a hero doesn't use a power like the Voice to murder his king and usurp his throne." Ulfric angrily groans through the gag. "You started this war; plunged Skyrim into chaos, and now the Empire is going to put you down and restore the peace!" Tullius angrily says. After that, a huge roar echoes over the mountains. I've never heard a cry like that before.

"What was that?" a soldier asks. Tullius doesn't seem to care. "It was nothing, carry on." He probably thinks it was a troll or something. I notice Cywien behind the building where I saw Koerith's tail, searching the sky. I snap back to the situation at hand. The Imperial captain shouts out "Yes, General Tullius!" She then turns to a priestess and orders "Give them their last rites." The priestess immediately starts. I don't pay attention until another Stormcloak that must've been riding with Conroy starts walking up, shouting "For the love of Talos, shut up and let's get this over with!" His bravery takes me by surprise. I look at Conroy, who is shocked as well. "As you wish..." the priestess says awkwardly. The Stormcloak plants himself in front of the block. "Come on, I haven't got all morning!" he says, turning to the captain, who pushes him onto the block. He looks up to the headsman and asks "My ancestors are smiling at me Imperials, can you say the same?" before the headsman swings his axe, delivering the fatal blow.

Conroy has turned away. The crowd that was watching cheered things like "Justice!" and "Death to the Stormcloaks!" However, one woman from the crowd shouts "You Imperial bastards!" This must've been that Ralof mentioned, Vilod. I turn to Ralof. "As fearless in death as he was if life." he comments. The Imperial captain turns to me. "Next, the kinsman!" We hear the roar over the mountains again. I don't look to Cywien again, because some soldiers might see. The soldier that was calling names earlier turns to the captain. "There it is again, did you hear that?" he asks. "I said, next prisoner!" the captain replies, annoyed. The soldier turns to me. "To the block, prisoner, nice and easy." he says. I shakily walk to the block. Conroy is bowing his head, praying to the gods.

The captain pushes me onto the block. It hurts my neck. I guess it will feel worse in a second. From the block, I can see Cywien. He has his bow out, poised to shoot. I shake my head, because if he shoots the headsman, all of these Imperials will come after him and kill all of us. He sheathes his arrow. I take one last look at him, smiling. I then turn to the headsman and stare him down, just to make him feel guilty. Up over his shoulder, there is a flying object. It can't be a bird because of the scales. The Imperials notice at the same time as me. It's Tullius who speaks, or rather screams. "What in Oblivion is that?!" He screams. "Sentries, what do you see?" the Imperial captain demands. "In the clouds!" Someone shouts. "DRAGON!" Someone else shouts. The Dragon lands on an Imperial tower right in front of my face, knocking over the headsman. It stares into my eyes. It then roars loudly, forcing me off the block and causing meteors to start raining from the new red vortex in the sky.

When I look over, I can't see Cywien or Koerith anymore. Conroy ran over to me to help me up. Ralof is kneeling beside me as well telling me to "Get up, the gods won't give us another chance." He doesn't need to tell me twice. Conroy props me up and the three of us dash for the Imperial tower that the rest of the Stormcloaks are taking shelter in. When we are all in and the door is closed, I sit down to rest. I also vomit from how scared I was earlier. Some Stormcloaks were either hit by fallen meteors of wounded from the Imperials. There's blood all over the floor. I can tell the Stormcloak man closest to me won't survive after looking at his meteor wound once.

Ralof just got his bindings cut off by Ulfric. "Jarl Ulfric, what was that thing? Could the legends be true?" Ralof frantically asks. "Legends don't burn down villages." Ulfric grimly replies. Ralof starts away from him, coming towards me. "Follow me, Tanim." Ralof demands. Me and Conroy follow him up to the top of the stairs, where there is an Imperial soldier. He doesn't last two seconds before the Dragon busts through the wall of the tower and scorches him to death with its fiery breath.

The Dragon flies away from the hole in the tower. Ralof walks up to the hole. He points at a burning two-story building with a hole in the roof. "See the inn on the other side? Jump through the roof and keep going!" he commands. I jump out of the tower and through the roof, followed by Conroy. The stairs to the first floor collapsed, so we have to jump down. I hurt my ankle doing so, but it's nothing serious. We sprint out of the inn and take shelter behind a building. There is a civilian already there, also the same Imperial soldier that was calling names earlier. "Haming, get over here!" the soldier shouts. A boy is running towards the soldier. The Dragon lands and starts breathing fire just as Haming and the soldier take shelter behind the building with us.

The soldier motions for the civilian to take the boy. "Gunnar, take care of the boy." he orders. he then looks to me and Conroy. "Still alive, prisoners? Keep close to me if you wants to stay that way." he says to us. I nod. "Gods guide you, Hadvar." says the civilian as we run away. We follow Hadvar through the burning town, carefully avoiding meteors. We jump down into a ditch which used to be a basement. Hadvar looks up. "Stay close to the wall!" He shouts. I press my back against the sun-baked wall. The dragon lands on top of the building we have our backs against. The Dragon scorches another Imperial soldier.

We hurry along through a wrecked and burning home after the Dragon flies off the building. There is a band of Imperial archers on the other side. They are clearly hitting the Dragon most of the time but it won't fall and it doesn't flinch in the slightest. Tullius motions for Hadvar to head into the Helgen Keep. I don't think Tullius saw me though. If he did, he might've said something else. Hadvar leads me and Conroy down a small hill where we encounter Ralof, axe in arm. I wonder how he got here; most of the paths to the keep are block by burning debris.

"Ralof! You damn traitor! Outta my way!" Hadvar shouts.

"We're escaping Hadvar! You're not stopping us this time!" Ralof shouts back.

"Fine! I hope this Dragon takes you all to Sovngarde!" Hadvar says after a moment of thought.

I understand both Hadvar and Ralof want me on their side. My first immediate choice is the Stormcloak side, because the Empire just tried to kill me, but wouldn't Hadvar have killed me on sight if they really wanted to kill me? Conroy looks at me, leaving the choice on my shoulders. Ralof drives my decision to the Stormcloak side by running over and opening the door to the Keep yelling "You two! Come on, into the Keep!"

Me and Conroy instinctively follow Ralof into the Keep. Hadvar runs into the Keep from a different entrance, clearly enraged with my decision. Ralof runs over to a dead corpse of a Stormcloak soldier. He kneels at his side. "We'll meet again in Sovngarde, brother." he mutters. He sadly looks up to me and Conroy. "Looks like we're the only ones who made it." Ralof says. "That thing was a Dragon, no doubt. Just like the children's stories and the legends." Conroy nods. Ralof gets ahold of himself. "Come here, let me see if I can get those bindings off." he says. I go first. Ralof takes a knife out of his belt and cuts my bindings. It feels good to be able to move my hands. Conroy feels the same, I can tell.

"Take Gunjar's gear. He won't be needing it anymore." Ralof says grimly. We have to split the armor evenly. Conroy gets the armor because he's the best in battle and I get the boots because that's what's left. Gunjar only has a war axe made of iron. I take the knife from Ralof's boot and Conroy takes the war axe. While we get the armor fitted, Ralof checks the doors on the left and right sides of the cylinder-shaped room. Both are locked.

I think we'll have to go back outside into the fray until we hear footsteps. "Get this door open!" a voice says. It's the voice of the Imperial captain that sentenced me and Conroy to death. "Imperials! Take cover!" Ralof says in a hushed whisper. I pull out my knife and Conroy pulls out his axe. I hide on one side of the door that the Imperials are opening and Ralof and Conroy hide on the other, ready to ambush. The door opens and a careless Imperial that ran in first die from my knife entering his side. The captain and another soldier pull out their swords after the first one falls to the ground. Conroy's axe is lodged in the soldier's chest a few seconds later. The captain goes for the stab into my heart, but I sidestep out of the way. Ralof's axe enters the back of her head after she misses her attack on me.

"Now we have more supplies!" Conroy says. He takes the captain's heavy armor. I take some of the minor soldier's armor. Ralof keeps his Stormcloak cuirass on. I also take all of the swords. Two for wielding, one to sell off. I'm much more lethal now. We find a key on the captain's corpse as well. "Must go with the whole Keep... if that's true, then we can get through that door over there!" Conroy says. We go over to the other side of the room to check and, luckily, it works. "You're right!" I say.

We follow Ralof through the door and down some stairs into a stone hallway. Some Imperials see us but they are immediately crushed by a cave-in caused by the raging Dragon above before they can say "Halt". We walk through an arch leading into a new room. There are two Imperials in there. One is a minor soldier searching a barrel for potions and the other is a captain. Both are male. They notice us right away. The captain lunges for my heart but I reflexively block it with one sword and stab him through the face with the other. The other soldier's fighting turns to that of a five-year-old after he sees that. Ralof throws his axe and it lodges in his back as he tries to run away.

I take the captain's armor and Conroy takes his sword because he can fight better with a sword rather than an axe. We keep his axe to sell off. "Search the barrel for potions. We need them just as much as the Imperials." Conroy says. He always acts like he's the smartest when we're in a dangerous situation. We both know that Voniel's plan of attack is the best. Although, I hate to say he's right. We find four potions: two red ones (to close wounds; immediate relief), a green one (for stamina, is a stimulant; speeds up the nervous system), and a blue one (for magical purposes; recharges magical energy).

"Done?" Ralof asks. He obviously doesn't want to end up like the crushed Imperials. "Yes." I say. stuffing the potions in a rucksack I found sitting around. "Then let's get moving!" Ralof says. We follow him out of the room back into the hallway, but now we are on the other side of the roof collapse. He leads us down some stairs into what appear to be... "Troll's blood, it's a torture room!" Ralof says, finishing my thought. There are two Imperials, a torturer and his assistant. There are also two Stormcloak soldiers fighting the torturers.

The torturer is using magic to fight. It is very difficult to dodge it, but if I get hit it won't kill me. I know this because Voniel tried to teach me how to use magic once, unsuccessfully. He did teach me a great deal about spells though. I recognize the spell that the torturer is using, it's called 'Sparks'. It's a spell for novice Destruction magic users and it causes a little pain where it hits, but too much exposure can kill you. I take a shock to the shoulder (which immediately starts bleeding) before my sword goes into his stomach. Conroy stabs the assistant after I kill the torturer.

There is a small arsenal of weapons in the corner. I give Conroy a shield made of iron that I find and that's about all that's useful to us. After a bit of getting up to speed from the other Stormcloaks, we are about to get going when Ralof says "Wait a minute, it looks like there's something in this cage!" he points to the cage in the middle of the room. There is a dead mage along with some gold and a spell book in there. I can tell that the mage's robes are valuable. "See if you can get it open with a couple of picks." Ralof says. He hands me a dozen lock picks. I take the knife he gave me and put eleven of the picks in my rucksack. I can lock pick decently, but not as well as Cywien or Koerith. I wonder if they're still alive... Anyway I have the cage open in a matter of seconds. There is another rucksack in the torture room for Conroy. We stuff the robes and spell book in Conroy's rucksack and I stick the gold in my pockets.

The pack continues through the dungeon. The Stormcloak soldiers lead the way, me and Ralof are in the middle, and Conroy brings up the back. We dash by some prison cells and down some more stairs. We are more in a cave than a keep now. We creep up to an arch and hear some more Imperials. "Orders are to wait until General Tullius arrives." a soldier says. "I'm not waiting to be killed by a Dragon!" another soldier says. We pop out into the fray to the surprise of the Imperials. Conroy dashes into battle and takes out one of the soldiers. One of the Stormcloaks takes out the other. There are two archers across the cave. I notice this after an arrow is sent flying at me. I dodge, but not fast enough. I get hit in the shoulder where I got scorched by the torturer and Conroy gets hit in the calf.

I pull the arrow out fast, but Conroy can't pull his out without stopping and bending over, which makes him an easy target. I dash over across the cave to the archers. One of them doesn't have the time to pull a knife out of his belt before my sword is in his heart, but the other pulls out a sword. He is obviously experienced, and he proves this by knocking the sword out of my right hand. Since I'm right-handed, he can easily knock my other sword out of my hand as well. I fall to my knees and he puts his sword across my neck. I looks to Conroy for help. Even though he pulled out the arrow, he's still limping over to me. "Say goodbye." He says. He's about to slit my throat when he falls over with an arrow in his back.

It was Cywien who shot the arrow. "Tanim! I heard fighting behind us and came to see what was the matter." He says, pulling the arrow out of the Imperial's corpse. "Is 'us' okay?" I ask. Koerith steps out of the shadows and Voniel suddenly appears next to me. "We're all good, are you okay?" Cywien says. Conroy catches up now. He's bleeding like crazy. "We're alive." I reply. I take a red potion out of my rucksack and give it to him. It starts slowly closing the wound. "Archers got us once we walked in." I tell them. "You got potions?" I ask. Cywien checks the pouches in his armor. "Quite a few. Two dozen healing, seven for stamina, and eighteen for magic." He throws one to me and I drink it. Like I said, the pain relief is instant.

We regroup with the Stormcloaks and keep moving, now with Cywein, Voniel, and Koerith in our party. We come up to a small drawbridge with a lever. the two Stormcloaks we found in the torture room stay behind in case Ulfric comes through. After that, Ralof pulls the lever and the drawbridge goes down and we continue. There is some Frostbite Spiders in the next room. They are very large spiders, some can even get to be as tall as the average man. Two of these are fairly large, but the majority of them are the size of a dog. Even so, Cywien picks off the big ones with his flawless accuracy with the bow. Voniel just sends in a fireball to finish the rest.

We continue to move on through the cave. We cross a small natural bridge and Ralof stops us. "Hold up, there's a bear just ahead, see her?" he says. I look for one. Sure enough, about thirteen meters forward. "I'd rather not tangle with her right now. So let's just sneak past her." Ralof says. However, Cywien puts an arrow in between the bears eyes. "Sneaking is overrated." Koerith says. Everyone laughs. We walk over to the corpse of the bear. Cywien retrieves his arrow. We take the bears pelt as well.

After that excursion, we trot along through the cave. It starts narrowing to more of a tunnel, and the best part is we see light streaming out! "The way out!" Ralof exclaims! "I knew we'd make it!" he says. Some of us (especially me and Conroy) hug. We dash out into the fresh air.


End file.
